17 million Iranians are in a “red water stress situation”
According to estimates, more than half of Iran's population, including residents of some major cities, are experiencing water stress to varying degrees. The scarcity and salinity of drinking water in Khorramshahr has led to public protests and violent confrontations by law enforcement forces.
Citing official information and statistics, ISNA News Agency reported a critical water shortage situation in large parts of Iran, which is said to be affecting about 334 of the country's 1,157 cities to varying degrees.
The report was published on Sunday, July 10, a day after continued protests over the shortage and salinity of tap water in Khorramshahr led to the intervention of law enforcement officers, who fired tear gas and opened fire on protesters.
According to ISNA, currently 44% of Iran's population is free of water stress, slightly more than 17% is in the yellow water stress range, 11% is in the orange stress range, and nearly 28% is in the red water stress range.
The number of residents of cities experiencing red water stress is estimated at around 17 million. ISNA news agency wrote in the aforementioned report: “In general, the cities that are predicted to experience the most water stress are Isfahan, Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Shiraz, Kerman, Mashhad, and almost all cities in Isfahan and Yazd provinces, which seem to face major water challenges in the summer.”
The report does not mention cities in Khuzestan province. For about two weeks now, salinity in tap water has exacerbated the problem of water shortages and rationing in some cities in Khuzestan, including Abadan and Khorramshahr, leading to demonstrations and protest gatherings by citizens.
According to the state-run IRNA news agency, several hundred citizens of Khorramshahr who demonstrated in the city's central square on Saturday night (July 29) to protest the shortage and poor quality of tap water "clashed with police officers present at the scene."
Shooting at Khorramshahr protesters
In videos posted on social media and said to be related to last night's unrest in Khorramshahr, gunshots can be heard and tear gas can be seen being thrown.
According to reports that have not yet been officially confirmed, at least one protester was shot dead by police during clashes in Khorramshahr on Saturday night. The IRNA news agency reported, citing sources, that “a number of protesters and police officers were injured.”
In the past few days, news has also been published about water rationing in the Isfahan metropolis, which some local officials have vehemently denied.
According to Mehr News Agency, Akbar Banitaba, spokesman and director of public education for the Isfahan Water Company, said on July 10 that the company, just as it provided drinking water to the people in the first quarter of this year and despite the "severe limitation of water resources," will continue to do so in the remaining months of the hot season, and Isfahan residents will not witness water rationing.
Bani Taba quotes the Minister of Energy as saying that water rationing in Isfahan province is a “red line” for the Ministry of Energy. This claim has been repeated by a number of other local officials and senior managers at the Ministry of Energy, but Ali Seyedzadeh, director of the Water and Wastewater Company’s Consumption Management Office, has confirmed water rationing in Isfahan.
Isfahan; Rationing in the name of "Temporary Water Cutoff"
Ali Seyyedzadeh said in a telephone interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Radio and Television News Network on Friday, July 29: "This year, in Isfahan province, we were forced to temporarily ratione water during the peak of water consumption."
ISNA news agency also reported, citing a number of citizens living in Isfahan, that in recent weeks, at least in some areas of Isfahan, people have been facing water pressure drops and temporary water cuts during certain hours of the day.
A spokesperson for the Isfahan Water Company told Mehr News Agency that Seyedzadeh's remarks in an interview with the Khabar Network about temporary water rationing in Isfahan referred to the drop in pressure and water outages in some parts of the city in recent weeks, and that this "does not reflect the meaning and concept of implementing water rationing in the metropolis of Isfahan."
On this basis, local officials also confirm the “drop in pressure and water outages” in the Isfahan metropolis and oppose it only by using the term “rationing.” This is while the official announcement of water rationing allows citizens to better prepare themselves for when tap water is cut off.
Source: DW
